13 Facts About Owen Lovejoy

Owen Lovejoy was an American lawyer, Congregational minister, abolitionist, and Republican congressman from Illinois.

Owen Lovejoy worked with his family on the farm until he was 18, and his parents encouraged his education.

Owen Lovejoy's father was a Congregational minister and his mother was very devout.

Owen Lovejoy migrated to Alton, Illinois, where his older brother Elijah Parish Owen Lovejoy had moved in 1836 from St Louis, because of hostility to his anti-slavery activities.

The older Owen Lovejoy was by then an anti-slavery Presbyterian minister who edited the Alton Observer, an abolitionist newspaper.

Owen Lovejoy was present on the night of November 7,1837 when his brother Elijah was murdered while trying to defend the printing press of the Illinois Anti-Slavery Society from an angry mob.

Owen Lovejoy served as pastor of the Congregational Church in Princeton, Illinois from 1838 to 1856.

In 1854 Owen Lovejoy was elected a member of the Illinois State Legislature.

Owen Lovejoy worked with Abraham Lincoln and others to form the Republican Party in the state, and he and Lincoln remained close friends.

In February 1859, Owen Lovejoy responded to anti-abolitionists' charges that by aiding runaway slaves and opposing slavery he was a "negro stealer", saying on the floor of Congress that:.

Owen Lovejoy helped gain passage of legislation prohibiting slavery in the territories.

Owen Lovejoy was one of the few steadfast Congressional supporters of Lincoln during the American Civil War.

Owen Lovejoy's body was returned to Illinois for burial at Oakland Cemetery in Princeton.